Q. Great to meet you. Could we just gather your reaction to the Eagles picking you? And I'm not sure if you had the chance to see Jason Kelce's reaction to the pick.
CAM JURGENS: You know, I'm so excited, to be able to play in the NFL at the highest level and just be an Eagle is insane. Getting to go out there and meet them, this is my favorite team all along, and getting there is kind of a dream come true. I didn't get to see Kelce's reaction, but I got to meet him when I was out there, and that's kind of a dude that I looked up to.
I'm so stoked to be there.
Q. Beforehand you were a tight end, and now you're an NFL center. Who suggested that you initially move and do the position switch, and what was that transition like for you?
CAM JURGENS: Yeah, it was kind of like early on in my career, went there at tight end, went through the off-season and fall camp and within the first game, our O-line coach and head coach, Coach Frost, brought it up, like, hey, we want you at center. And initially my reaction was holy crap, I don't know if I can gain that weight. I was probably like 240, and once I made that switch midway through the year, I put on a lot of weight really fast. And that part was easy, but looking the technicalities of it, that was a little bit of the struggle and took a little bit to harness everything.
At the end of the day, I loved the switch. Within a week of being within the O-line, I was like, why was I a tight end? I was tired of running down the field to not get a ball thrown my way. Hitting dudes every play, that's my stuff.
Q. Jason called you his favorite player in the Draft and he was really excited about it. What does that mean to you and how excited are you to get in here and learn from him?
CAM JURGENS: That's awesome. I watched a lot of his tape and seeing a guy that's able to move like he is and play as hard and with as much intensity as he is, that's how I want to play and that's how I want to model my game and be an athlete on the field. Just because you're an O-lineman doesn't mean you can't run down field and knock a safety out. I want to do stuff like he does and be able to fit into their system as well as I can. I'm stoked to be able to be in there.
Q. As a follow-up to that, the interaction you had with him, was it a brief interaction, or what was the nature of that meeting and how do you feel about potentially sitting year one behind Jason and not necessarily playing right away?
CAM JURGENS: Yeah, it was good, we talked for quite a while, was actually in the O-Line room with Coach Stoutland, he was quizzing me, going over the plays. And Jason Kelce walked in, and we started talking a lot about their offense and what I can do and how I can fit in.
He started talking about how he just got some cows and is learning how to be a cattle rancher, and shoot, I grew up on a cattle farm and that's what I grew up around. We started talking some ranching and football and how we can help each other learn. You know, it was like just a great convo. Again, to meet someone like him that's just a superstar and he's down-to-earth and he's a good dude and somewhere that I can fit in really well.
Q. You mentioned Stout there, as well, and you got to meet Jason Kelce. Curious about your first interactions with him and how much you knew about his reputation as an offensive line coach in this league.
CAM JURGENS: Yeah, I think his reputation speaks for itself, and a lot of this stuff I did in Nebraska and stuff I was taught, especially the terminology, was very similar to what they do. My O-line coach, Greg Austin, coached with him for several years, so he came from that system, and that's his guy, that's his mentor, and kind of learned from his protege, and my coach, Austin.
And so a lot of this stuff is a little bit of carryover and getting to learn from Coach Stout and now it's a dream come true because it's stuff I've been doing already. I'm excited to keep learning, get to go learn from him with all the incredible guys he's coached in all of his years in the NFL and get to go learn from Kelce and Lane Johnson and all those guys along that line.
Like it's a pretty -- I don't know if there's a better spot for O-linemen to land than Philly to get to learn from Coach Stoutland.
Q. What is the No. 1 piece of advice for a novice cattle rancher?
CAM JURGENS: What did you say?
Q. What's your No. 1 piece of advice for a novice cattle rancher. What did you tell Jason?
CAM JURGENS: I would just say it never stops. Farming never stops. You've got to feed the cattle, I guess. There's a lot of stuff on the ranch to be done, and you have to treat them like they are family.
Q. You mentioned that the Eagles were your favorite team. Was that something that became your favorite team throughout pre-Draft process, or were you always an Eagles fan?
CAM JURGENS: No, kind of became my favorite team throughout the process, you know, talking to them. There were a lot of fun teams a got to talk to during the process, but those were the main ones that stuck out to me. And I feel like it's a really great system that fits what I do, and getting to learn from Kelce, that's a dude I watch and that's what I want to emulate and be like.
Q. I talked to a lot of high school coaches over the years, and they like when their football player is playing other sports, whether it's basketball or track and field, because it keeps them competing rather than being out back flipping a tire or something. What did your coaches at Nebraska -- how did they feel about you about being on the track team for two years, and did it add to your game, being on the track team?
CAM JURGENS: Yeah, track is kind of something I grew up doing. So I was only able to do a couple meets at Nebraska because COVID hit and they canceled -- the first track meet was an indoor meet. I remember I went there, and the whole team knew I was throwing, and I had a bunch of coaches and there was like -- a bunch of players came out there. You would have thought it was the Super Bowl in there. It was probably the rowdiest track meet you've ever seen.
It was like the funnest deal, to be able to be a football player in Nebraska, my dream school, and being able to be a two-sport athlete and throw it, was pretty awesome to be doing that, and I felt like it translated a lot to football because throwing shot put, throwing discus, it's all lower body and hip-snap and being able to use your body and legs and your lower half and getting into good position to generate the most power and create the most force. That's all the O-line is and that's all do you when you block.
Q. You get an opportunity to reunite with your former teammate, Jack Driscoll, who made the 53 last year. What has he told you about Nick Sirianni and his interactions, and how much do you look forward to reuniting with him?
CAM JURGENS: I'm so pumped. Jack's my boy. Jack's my guy. It was so fun talking to him throughout the year and throughout the process. He absolutely loves it there and doesn't have anything bad to say. He loves the coaches. Coach Sirianni was great.
And I'm so excited to be there and to be with him. That was one of my closest friends there, and to be able to play football with him is pretty exciting.
Sorry for not having the video up, we have a tornado here and the wi-fi isn't working very well. I appreciate you guys working with me.
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